Posts Tagged wicking
ExOfficio Quick-dry Neptune Long-sleeve Tee
As this dreadful winter comes to a close, I can finally turn my attention to the pile of spring clothing I’ve been itching to get to for weeks now, starting with this great long-sleeve Neptune Crew t-shirt from ExOfficio. I’ve been wearing this biking, hiking, and walking around town and have found a new clothing item to put at the top of my packing list.
For me, a long-sleeve t-shirt is ideal to pack for a variety of trips in any season. Unless it’s blazing hot in the tropics, you can use one on a regular basis—even then if you’re trying to cut down on the amount of sunscreen you’re using. Apart from a whole host of other attributes, this lightweight shirt also manages a 30 SPF in sun protection. You can wear it under another shirt for days thanks to its Nanoplex od0r-fighting properties. And of course it’s a great shirt for active adventures since it wicks sweat easily, is lightweight, and dries quickly after a hand washing.
This Neptune tee has been performing really well in my tests and I can’t wait to take in on a long multi-day biking trip I’m taking next week. It’s going to be one of the wondergear items that allows me to ride for days with all my clothing in a small backpack. I like the way it feels on my body and it’s flattering—as in accenting the form, but not so snug it shows every bulge. There’s no tag behind the neck and flatlock stitching keeps it all smooth. It breathes well and the people can still breathe around me after a workout: as with the Spyder baselayer I reviewed earlier, I put this Neptune to the test by wearing for days on end before throwing it in the hamper for a wash. 
When I took it out of the washing machine, I put it in the sun and it was dry in less than an hour. A few hours should do it in a hotel room, so you can wash it before going to bed and have it ready to go in the morning.
My version is the darkest color available, yet it doesn’t turn many shades darker when it gets sweaty—my only beef with the short-sleeve ExO Dri Tee I reviewed last year. This shirt is wispy, but based on all the other ExOfficio warm-weather gear I’ve tried out it should be pretty indestructible: you can machine wash and dry it with no harm.
The Neptune Crew comes in three colors in addition to the two pictured here and lists for $54. (Sometimes you can find certain colors or sizes that aren’t selling well marked down on the ExOfficio site or at REI.com.)
Browse more items from ExOfficio or see more of our ExOfficio travel clothing reviews.
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, Travel Light on March 10th, 2010
Performance Socks Made in the USA
Before I attended the Outdoor Retailers show last month, I thought it was pretty much a lost cause to still find socks that were made in the USA instead of in some developing country. I was wrong. Among the sea of sock manufacturers there I found a few that are still employing Americans and using facilities on home soil. In comparing their prices to some of the others shipping things over from China, the prices aren’t all that different either—these are, after all, quality socks that cost more than $10 a pair anyway.
So get your Chinese cotton tube socks for a buck a pair at Wal-mart, but turn to these brands for working out, hiking, and travels when you’ll be walking a lot. Here are a few I’ve been trying out and some info on what makes them special.
Swiftwick
A company that announces they make “the best sock you’ll ever wear—guaranteed” is obviously confident that they’re putting something good on your feet. 
These guys are based in my home state of Tennessee and they set themselves apart in a few different ways. Their Olefin fiber socks retain less than .01% of their moisture and they’ll even float they’re so light. Naturally these sock dry quickly and they resist deterioration from perspiration and detergents. They make a compression sock (which I tried out) that uses 100% olefin, plus other sizes where it’s mixed with other fabrics. Thicker models use merino wool with a mix of nylon and lycra, making them comfortable but stretchy. Naturally the thicker the sock, the more strategic cushioning is built in.
Swiftwick socks start at a list price of $11 and go up to $23 for full-blown thick compression socks rising to your knee. They aim to be carbon neutral in their practices and use a bare minimum of packaging. They have a ballsy guarantee too: if you don’t like what you bought, send it back and they’ll replace it with your choice—including a competitor’s product from off their shelf. You can find their products at many independent bike shops: see this dealer locator.
Goodhew
Not to be outdone on the bold claims side of things, Goodhew’s products are billed as the “the finest socks you will find anywhere at any price.” I can’t vouch for that since I haven’t tried them all, but these are certainly comfortable and high-performance. Their socks feature “flat toe seams, ring-toe cushioning, Y-heel construction, arch support 
and turn welt tops.” Sure, that’s gobbledygook to most of us just looking for some nice socks for hiking on mountain trails, but let’s trust that all this adds up to something you’ll love.
I have been trying out two pairs from Goodhew. One pair is made with a mix of lambswool and Alpaca wool—but with the requisite synthetics blended in to make them form-fitting. The other is 75% merino wool, in a soft version they call “Cashmerino.” (Catchy eh?) These are more all-around winter socks, as are many of their styles—meant to be cushioned enough for long days of walking but look good enough to wear with a pair of nice pants. Like Swiftwick, these guys are based in Tennessee, but in Chattanooga. They have a full product quality problem replacement guarantee and besides manufacturing in the U.S., are trying to source all the materials they can from domestic sources as well.
Get them for $12 to $20 online at Rock Creek or check this retail locator.
Darn Tough Vermont
Heading up north to Vermont, this company says, “If our socks aren’t the most comfortable and durable socks you’ve ever worn, return them for your money back.” Of all the ones I tried on for this round-up, I have to say I liked these the best. 
In all fairness though, they were the thickest and it’s been a darn cold winter. This company was a favorite of many retailers at the Outdoor Retailers show too, so this brand is the easiest to find of the three, available at Backcountry.com and Campmor.
Their material of choice is soft wicking merino wool but they also make a Coolmax blend. All feature “form fitting toe boxes to sculpted heel pockets and knit-in elastic support at the arch.” Darn Tough socks come in a wide variety of styles and as you’d expect from a company in Vermont, there are plenty of ski socks and hiking socks to choose from. They don’t have to go very far to test them out. Most are priced in the range of $10-$22 per pair depending on how much material goes into them.
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, General Gear on February 10th, 2010
Get a Free No-stink Wicking Shirt
There’s a company called Agion that supplies antimicrobial treatment to a lot of brands (Adidas, Columbia, Motorola, Logitech) and they want to give you a free t-shirt. No contest, just sign up and they’ll send it to you.
Go to the site StinkAtNothing.com and click on “get a shirt” at the top or “start sweating” partway down the left column. Or just click here. Fill in your info and they’ll send you a split shirt like the one pictured above: half of it is untreated, the other half is treated with Agion’s silver ions odor-elimination technology. The company thinks this treatment is better than anything currently on the market out there and they want to prove it. So sweat in this shirt for a while and see how it goes. If you submit a good enough story afterwards you can also win more prizes. Get the full scoop at the website.
You should be seeing branded wicking shirts using this technology starting this summer, but you’ll have one first. Well, half of one anyway…
(While you’re in the mood to score some free stuff, put a comment on this reading and task light post from a few days ago. Then sign up for Perceptive Travel’s monthly newsletter, where a new gear item ships out to a lucky winning subscriber every month.)
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, Travel Light on January 31st, 2010
Spyder Base Layer – A Week With No Stink
As I’ve mentioned before, one byproduct of a lot of wicking shirts and base layers is that, well, after sweating in them a while people can smell you coming 20 yards away. The better ones are treated with something, usually involving silver, so that the odors and bacteria are eliminated.
I’ve been unwilling to test how long this fabric treatment would actually work, however, until Spyder sent me this high-end wool crew baselayer. They told me it was worth $100 because it had extra stinkproofing and I could wear it for a week without washing it. Oooh boy, that’s a challenge I couldn’t leave standing.
So I did wear it for close to a week, in that time going sledding, going snow tubing, and taking some brisk walks in sub-freezing weather. Then for good measure I left in on inside a lot with the heat on. After day 6 it was starting to get noticeably “less fresh” smelling, so I threw it in the hamper. But hey, six days—that’s pretty impressive. I don’t think I have another shirt that would make it that long, especially a wicking shirt.
Spyder suits up a lot of skiers and other athletes you’ll be seeing at the Winter Olympics soon though, so I knew this would be a quality piece of cold weather clothing. My torso didn’t look quite as buff as the one in this photo, but I did like the fact it clung to my body tightly while still letting me move around. It looks pretty cool too, with the spider webs on each side—you can feel like a superhero. Spyder incorporated an extra nylon fabric weave that acts as a pillar, lifting the wool slightly off the skin, plus they incorporated venting here, extra padding there to make it especially comfortable. I have to admit I was never itchy wearing this baselayer, even though it’s made of wool.
Here’s the official rundown on the odor-fighting features: “Textile fibers permanently bonded with pure silver are woven into the fabric. This construction has huge anti-microbial and anti-odor benefits. You can literally wear this top for a week long trip and it won’t smell. Silver is the most conductive metal, so the heat transfer benefit of having every surface of your upper body covered by it is great as well.”
But still, is a baselayer worth $100? This being Practical Travel Gear, for most people probably not. But if you were going on a cold-weather camping trip in the backcountry or hiking to the top of Aconcagua, your fellow travelers would probably be quite happy that you made this investment—especially if you were sharing a tent. In all fairness, this Spyder one is only about $10 more than a lot of similar high-end baselayers from the likes of Arc’teryx, Ibex, and CW-X. And it looks to be going for $75 at this ReliableRacing.com ski site.
See more at Spyder.com
Search baselayers at Backcountry.com
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, Travel Light on January 6th, 2010
When a $38 T-shirt is Worth the Price
I used to proudly count myself among the cheapskate backpackers who would not get rid of a t-shirt until it either had discolored beyond recognition or had started falling apart from all the hand washings (and beating on rocks in India) that come with long-term travel. Then I would repeat the process with another few cheapie shirts. After all, it’s easy enough to refresh your t-shirt wardrobe in Bangkok, Cusco, or Delhi for a few dollars a pop.
But as I’ve become older and wiser I’ve realized that sometimes it really is worth paying an hour’s salary for a t-shirt. I wore this ExO Dri Tee from ExOfficio every couple days for two months solid this summer (plus on a few bike rides since) and it still looks like it did the day I took it out of the wrapper. No stretching, no discoloration, and no noticeable deterioration in the wicking properties or odor-fighting properties.
That last one is important. I had one other cheaper wicking shirt with me on my two-month journey through two hot countries and I ended up eventually throwing it in the trash. It had gotten those little fuzzy balls around the collar, but more importantly, it stunk. Well, not when it was clean, but it didn’t take many hours of being sweaty after that for people to smell me coming. Unfortunately, that’s often the case with cheaper wicking shirts, which are no more than collections of untreated synthetic fibers. You’re better off with plain cotton unless you’re in cold weather and need to keep your skin dry.
This advanced t-shirt is a different story. It’s 15% cotton, first of all, so it doesn’t have that icky swishy polyester feel. It dries fast though, which is good on the go and good for quick washings. It has built-in sun protection and the FreshGuard finish “limits bacteria growth while neutralizing body odor.” It has some nice comfort touches too, like a printed tag instead of one scratching your neck and ribbed seams that are in front of the shoulder—helpful when you’re lugging a backpack around.
My one beef is common across many ExOfficio shirts: every drop of sweat shows up clear as the sun. Perhaps it’s the lack of patterns, perhaps the actual fabric construction, but while the sweat may dry quickly, you’ll see all of it all over in the meantime. Bring something to change into if you’re going from the sweaty outdoors to a nice air-conditioned restaurant.
The ExO Dri T-shirt comes in five sizes and seven colors and lists for $38. Sometimes the less popular sizes/colors will go on sale for 50% off, so check the links below.
Get the Exo Dri Tee for men at ExOfficio.com
Check prices on the ExOfficio eXo Dri Shirt at Sierra Trading Post
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, Travel Light on September 16th, 2009
